Current methods for determining the quality of an oil or natural gas product flowing in a pipeline involve direct sampling of the liquid or gas to perform a detailed chemical analysis such as gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, or the like. These point measurements are logistically difficult and costly, and introduce an inherent time-delay between two consecutive measurement points. In addition, some of the current testing techniques involve the use of hazardous chemicals. Furthermore, the complexity of the chemical measurements makes it difficult, if not impossible, to correlate a measured characteristic of a fluid at a certain point with the actual value of the characteristic of the fluid at that point in real time.
To determine certain deleterious characteristics such as the water content in a crude oil pipeline, some approaches include capacitive electrical measurements, or microwave absorption measurements. For gases, current industry technology includes density meters. However, these measurements tend to be slow and imprecise, leading to high recycling rates for improving the quality of the oil or natural gas product, and thereby reducing the throughput of the system.
In the figures, elements having the same or similar reference numeral share the same or similar functionality and description, unless stated otherwise.